Ethnobotanical study of plants used by the traditional healers to treat malaria in Mogovolas district, northern Mozambique

Abstract

Introduction Malaria is an important parasitic disease that affects mostly the African continent. Traditional medicine is very important in Mozambique and traditional healers play a key role in the primary health care services, particularly in rural areas. We aim to report the results of an ethnobotanical survey undertaken in Mogovolas district, northern region of Mozambique. We recorded and identified the medicinal plants used by traditional healers for treatment of malaria, as well as the mode of preparation and administration. Methods The study was conducted in 14 villages from Mogovolas between June and August 2015. Sixteen traditional healers were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires. Under their guidance, we collected medicinal plants and prepared herbarium specimens that were sent and kept at Eduardo Mondlane University Herbarium for scientific identification. We searched for information on the in vitro and in vivo studies of the cited plants for antiplasmodial activity. Results Traditional healers from Mogovolas district reported the use of 37 plants to treat malaria, belonging to 22 families. The most used species are Ochna kirkii Oliv. (5 citations), Ehretia amoena Klotzsch and Pteleopsis myrtifolia (M.A.Lawson) Engl. & Diels (both with 3 citations). These plants belong to Ochnaceae, Boraginaceae and Combretaceae families, respectively. The herbal remedies are prepared using leaves (22/37), roots (18/37), stem barks (16/37) and stems (3/37). The administration of the herbal remedies was made essentially by oral route and bathing. Conclusion The ethnobotanical data resulted from this study can be the starting point for further chemical and pharmacological studies aiming to identify medicinal species with antimalarial activity, thus, open the insights for the discovery of new antimalarial substances, as well as better integration of the traditional medicine into the national health systems, particularly in developing countries, as the health system coverage is limited.

Ethnobotanical Research of Plants Used in Traditional Medicine for The Treatment of Epilepsy in Southern Mozambique

“…With respect to Informant Factor consensus (IFC), the highest level of consensus was observed in the category of digestive system diseases (diarrhea, roundworms) (0.83), despite the category containing the lowest number of species and reported uses. Similar results have been reported in several studies where the highest level of IFC was observed in the category with the lowest number of species and reported uses [17,29,39]. The category of nervous system disorders, which includes epilepsy showed an IFC of 0.52.…”

“…The category of nervous system disorders, which includes epilepsy showed an IFC of 0.52. This reinforces the fact that different types of plants were cited by traditional medicine practitioners for the treatment of epilepsy [29].…”

“…In Mozambique Hugonia orientalis is commonly used in traditional medicine for the treatment of Malaria, diarrhea and wounds [25,29]. Maclura africana is used in traditional medicine for treatment of respiratory diseases and helminthiasis [25,30].…”

An updated checklist of Mozambique’s vascular plants

“…Successively, we included taxa described in Mozambique from the following relevant databases of plant diversity and taxonomic research: Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF, https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.gq7jnb , n = 91,832 records), Plants of World Online (POWO, http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ n = 5,639 species), Flora of Mozambique ( https://www.mozambiqueflora.com/ , n = 6,264 species), Flora Zambesiaca ( http://apps.kew.org/efloras/advsearch.do?reset=true , n = 4,482 species), and JSTOR – Global Plants ( https://plants.jstor.org/ , n = 1,846 species). Finally, additional taxa were found through the review of previous studies on Mozambique’s flora ( de Koning 1993 ; Timberlake et al 2007 , 2009 ; Wursten et al 2017; Bayliss et al 2010 ; Müller et al 2012 ; Burrows et al 2018 ; Darbyshire et al 2019 , n = 4,468 species) and through an extensive review of the most relevant ethnobotanical studies ( Krog et al 2006 ; Bandeira et al 2007 , 2011 ; Ribeiro et al 2010 ; Silva et al 2011 ; Williams et al 2011 ; Bruschi et al 2011 , 2014 ; Conde et al 2014 ; Santo-António and Goulão 2015 ; Moura et al 2018 ; Barbosa et al 2020 ; Manuel et al 2020 , n = 394) to document the traditional knowledge associated with the use of plants in the country.…”

Ethnomedicinal practices regarding curing of chronic fever among the tribes of North Chhattisgarh, India

“…Oladele et al (2020) conducted a systematic review focusing on curative potential on Nigeria based medicinal plant to treat and battle against COVID-19 pandemic, this study focus attention on the importance of finding out possible substitute to treat COVID-19 through natural sources, this study discusses the antiviral properties of phytochemical properties found in medicinal plant and their potential to treat the effect of COVID-19 [118] . Manuel et al conducted ethnobotanical study in Mogovolas district in Northern Mozambique and this study was executed in 14 villages where 16 traditional healers were included, study recorded total 37 plants belonging with 22 families for the treatment of malaria fever and this study highlighted importance of traditional medicine in primary health care and also further pharmacological studies on these identified medicinal plants for antimalarial activities is suggested [119] . Adi-Darko et al (2021) conducted study a laboratory based study in Ghana, where MA001 is used to treat typhoid fever, MA001 formulated from various medicinal plants and the study suggested that the formulated solid dosage forms of MA001 have the potential to improve taste, stability and compliance in the treatment of typhoid fever infection [120] .…”